Storms brings around three-quarters of an inch of rain to Fresno area

Storms that rolled into the central San Joaquin Valley early Saturday morning brought around three quarters of an inch of rain to the Fresno area, and enough snow in the Sierras to close Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park.

Meteorologist Jim Dudley with the National Weather Service at Hanford said the rainfall winner was Clovis, which received 0.86 of an inch of rain from the storm. Other Valley storm totals for Saturday: Friant (0.80), Fresno (0.69), Madera (0.66), Visalia (0.23), Atwater (0.33) and Hanford (0.22).

By Saturday afternoon, the storm moved south, and Sunday is expected to be dry and warmer. Saturday’s high in Fresno was just 68.

Fresno temperatures are expected to be in the low 70s on Sunday and should increase to the upper 80s by Tuesday. No more rain is expected in the coming seven-day forecast.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access.

“I’m not saying this is last system we’ll have this year,” Dudley said, “but this is certainly one of the last systems that will come through.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Andersen said around two inches of snow also reportedly fell Saturday morning in the Sierra communities of Shaver Lake, Yosemite Valley, Lodgepole and Grant Grove. There was no estimate for when Tioga Road would reopen.

Elsewhere in California, the wet weather that moved in from the Pacific Northwest on Friday night produced nearly an inch of rain in Sacramento and dumped more than a foot of snow at Tahoe-area ski resorts that were forced to end their seasons early last month because of an absence of snow, National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Dang said.

The amount of precipitation the storm unleashed “was a very pleasant surprise,” although the fresh layers of powder that continued to accumulate on Saturday afternoon won’t last because temperatures are expected to rise into the 50s on Sunday and the 60s on Monday, Dang said.

“It may stick around for a couple of days. But it won’t be around for too terribly long, unfortunately,” he said. “That being said, the water will stick around in the reservoirs, which is encouraging.”

Much of the San Francisco Bay Area received a half-inch to an inch of rain before the sun came out on Saturday afternoon, amounts that Weather Service forecasters called impressive given how quickly the storm passed through the region.

As was the case with a storm that reached Northern California about three weeks ago, Saturday’s dousing was not expected to ease the state’s extreme drought.

Fresno has received about 1.15 inches more rain since Oct. 1 than it did during the same period the year before.

About 5.84 inches of rain has fallen in Fresno since Oct. 1, compared to about 4.69 inches of rain during the same period of 2013-14, Andersen said.